Birthdays, mortality and a spanking new camera

  I'm expecting another birthday to stop by soon. No, I won't tell you how old I am- let's just say I've stopped taking any notice of who's got what Olympics or World Cup now, because I may not actually be around for those- and that's before we factor in the numerous idiots  currently in charge of some very large arsenals of rather worrying weapons.
 But I digress (it's an age thing.). The OH, bless him, flush with his retirement payout, bought me an early birthday present, in the form of a Nikon L340, as I'd been moaning about the lack of a decent camera. Consequently, I've been out and about testing it and getting myself familiar with the functions, etc- particularly the zoom (28X) and the macro.
 I was hoping to get some really good wildlife shots with such a good zoom capacity, forgetting my previous experiences with zoom lenses and that you need a tripod to use it to it's full extent.

 I'd like to tell you I dusted the old tripod down, but I didn't. Yep, I have no shame- I went out with a mucky tripod. But, you'll be pleased to hear, I only went into the back-yard, so it's only you and me who know about it, and I'm not going to tell anyone else. I've spent the afternoon trying to capture video of the bird-life in the garden, which is quite rich, but only the blackbirds and robins wanted to play.
 I made it into a video, using Openshot Video Editor, which tried my patience by crashing several times and losing my work. I learned quickly to save each stage. If you like robins  and blackbirds particularly, you'll find it on YouTube, or possibly here, if I can remember how to post a video. Oops- there you go. Blackbird and Robin. Oh, and by the way- I've cleaned the tripod now.